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Today, the U.S. House of Representatives is not voting on increasing cuts in vital services from $35 billion to $50 billion.
They didn't have the votes, so the House leadership pulled it from the floor.
THANK YOU for your calls, letters, participation in events, letters to the editor, and so much more.
Our work together is making a difference.
We hope you've heard about the other victories your work has created: NO Food Stamp cuts by the Senate Agriculture Committee, and the inability of the House to agree on across-the-board cuts that would affect almost every domestic program.
We haven't gotten the reports from all the many groups that sponsored toll-free calls, but just two - American Friends Service Committee and Moveon.org - generated more than 43,500 calls! And as of last night, Moveon reported that their folks also sent 104,000 emails to members of Congress. We know you joined with others to make those calls and send those emails - THANKS!
It's not over. Next week, the House will try again to vote on a package of wrong-priority cuts that would hit almost every program we care about. And with or without this vote, there have been reports that the House Ways and Means Committee will make cuts drastically deeper than the $1 billion they were instructed to make - maybe $8 billion or so. House Ways and Means has jurisdiction over Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI - for poor elderly and disabled), foster care, child care, child support enforcement, unemployment insurance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit. We've also heard that the House Agriculture Committee will consider substantial cuts to the Food Stamps program. And we know that the House Energy and Commerce Committee is still working on Medicaid cuts. Cutting these services to pay for tax cuts is an outrage.
Our Things to Do list for the near term:
1: Bask - everyone deserves a good bask in our shared victories so far.
2. Next week - members of the House Ways and Means, Agriculture, and Energy and Commerce Committees need to hear from their constituents. Here are links to lists of those members:
If you or your networks are in their districts, they really need to hear from you. We'll send something out more specific next week.
So - feel great about what you've done! Rest up! But don't let up - we really can stop these dangerous cuts.
Gratefully,
Debbie Weinstein,
Coalition on Human Needs
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